Word: aircrafting
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...what's obvious isn't always true. The plane in which John Denver died last week was indeed an experimental aircraft, a model called the Long-EZ. But it would be naive to assume that the airplane was at fault. Not only is the Long-EZ considered solid, safe and relatively easy to fly, but it also requires a pilot's license and medical certificate to operate--and Denver didn't have the latter. His certificate had been yanked by the Federal Aviation Administration after Denver was arrested twice for driving his car while intoxicated...
...temptation to blame the plane comes largely from a confusion between experimental aircraft and ultralight planes. Both became hugely popular in the mid-1980s after a series of product-liability lawsuits drove the makers of conventional small planes--Piper Cubs, Cessna 150s and other single-engine aircraft--to the brink of bankruptcy and, in some cases, over...
...ultralights, by contrast, are often built by the pilots themselves, which shifts the liability to the owner and cuts insurance and labor costs sharply. As a result, these flying machines cost from a few thousand dollars to $30,000, in contrast to $100,000 or more for a conventional aircraft. "Before these planes came along," says police sergeant Bruce Talbot, who built and operates his Long-EZ in Bolingbrook, Ill., "flying meant you had to be a rich...
...Long-EZ are also built at home, but that's where the resemblance ends. They're created by experts. The Long-EZ was made by legendary designer Burt Rutan, whose Voyager in 1986 became the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. Before any experimental aircraft can take off, an FAA inspector goes over it in excruciating detail to make sure it's airworthy. Flying a Long-EZ isn't as safe as sitting on the couch watching Seinfeld--71 accidents and 28 deaths have been reported since 1983. But that's safer than many homebuilts...
That doesn't necessarily mean Denver made any mistakes--other than flying without a medical certificate. There's no evidence that he'd been drinking that day. "He was a solid pilot," says Tom Poberezny, president of the Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh, Wis. The man who recently sold Denver the nine-year-old plane says the singer took it up for two checkout flights before the final, fatal one. The investigation still being conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board may test another theory: that Denver had a freak collision with a pelican. But unless the NTSB finds otherwise...